rain storm blowing in

pretty soon I think.....but it didn't get down to freezing overnight, 45 at sunrise.....but 8 mph wind walking for the paper made it feel cold enough.....last day of this month, so we are making it through the Winter bit by bit.....I have plenty of beef stew to last until senior shopping day on Wednesday.....you get 5% off your total.....it's Wednesday because Social Security direct deposits go in on the various Wednesdays of the month, depending on your birth date.....mine is the third Wednesday......starting next year, no more SS checks will be mailed out.....if you don't have a bank account, then you'll get a debit card, like they do for welfare nowadays.....I read that somewhere....

should be warmer

again today they say....in the 60's maybe.....right now it looks like some early morning clouds are burning off...or maybe just moving around.....the weather down in Texas might get here in the middle of the week, bringing some rain.....in SoCal, weather used to move in off the Pacific and hit up north and then move down towards San Diego.....here it moves across the Gulf states and then up through the Piedmont towards the mid-atlantic states......except when it's a cold front moving down from like the Ohio valley.....sometimes the cold front and the southern moisture run together and we get a big weather event, like a few weeks ago.....I had the sausage biscuit for lunch yesterday, with cheese and a little german mustard, some chips, some wine.....bowl of stew and biscuit for supper.....will finish up the hash brown casserole tonight.....the Laker-Celtics will be on late afternoon.....

back on track

I suppose....got the Saturday paper....which I like because it has the Auto section, usually with three or four new model reviews, and a local classic car picture someone has sent in.....today no local "my classic car".....don't know why.....the Auto Show was in Greenville a couple of weeks ago, and this weekend is the Boat Show.....I remember one boat owner telling me that a boat can be defined as "a hole in the water that you pour money into"....I have no desire to go on water, it scares me....I swim like a rock.....today is warming up nicely, so after lunch I'm thinking of walking around "downtown" some, instead of the usual "mill village" park walk.....I might fix a sausage cheese biscuit for lunch, or just finish off the pizza?

at loose ends

I don't know what to do, my morning routine has been disrupted.....I ate my poached egg on toast and drank my two mugs of coffee, and bundled up and walked to the usual store, but there were no newspapers.....so I returned home empty-handed.....if I walk out again soon will I be disappointed again? What a dilemma.......

brisk west wind

but warm enough to walk around the park by mid-day....was still freezing on the sun-rise walk.....had a bowl of stew and a biscuit for supper Thursday, so today will be hash-brown casserole and asparagus tips I suppose.....nothing interesting in the mail today, just solicitations....watched some strange Chinese movie last night on IFC, the kind with ninja type people flying around and huge battle scenes, and intrigue in the palace.....poisoned cups, that kind of thing.....don't remember the name of the movie.....then I watched some NBA.....

later in the day

the sun has come out some.....enough to sit on the front porch, if I move a chair to the corner where the sun hits this time of day.....inside it smells like stew cooking.....there's a lot of sirens right now, don't know what's going on.....a fire or an accident? Fiddled with the fiddle for a while after lunch, hadn't done that much lately......Samantha mentioned on Facebook that she and Bree had gone to visit Aunt Doris....her "Nanny Tingle"....and she had served them pimento cheese sandwiches and "fruit-cocktail cake".....I want fruit-cocktail cake.....I think I do anyway, don't think I've ever had that, but it sure sounds good.....

lots of frost, 28F at sunrise

clouds, not much sunshine right now, though it should clear up later? I've got a stew started in the crock-pot....sirloin tips, onion soup mix, sliced potatoes, sliced carrots, sliced mushrooms, can of cream of celery soup, and parmesan-romano cheese on top. The casserole was tasty yesterday, and there's enough of it left for a couple more meals, and there will be stew leftover too, so for a few days I can rotate those and just have to microwave a plate at suppertime, easy meals.......wasn't much of interest on TV last night, so I finished a sci-fi novel.....tonight there will be the Heat at Knicks at 8:00.....maybe I'll watch that, or some of it....see what the score is at halftime......

rained until about 7:30

this morning, after raining most of yesterday and last night....so there were lots of puddles and water still dripping off trees when I went to get the paper....but it's warmer than it's been lately, up close to 40 degrees outside.....I ate the last of the chicken curry for supper, so today I'm going to do a casserole in the oven with pork sausage, potatoes o'brian, Ragu roasted garlic sauce, with parmesan-romono and seasoned bread crumbs baked on top....there will be leftovers.....

made it back home

before the rain got going very much....found some library books, got fixings for sausage hash brown casserole, and for beef stew with veggies and biscuits....got the coffee filters, and OJ for another week....stopped at Shell to fill up with Plus at three bucks per.....that'll do me for another month or more, unless I decide to drive somewhere extra for some reason.....nothing but junk mail today.....my bills are all paid for this month anyway.....

I might get wet

going out this morning.....on the radar a line of "wintry mix" followed by rain is headed this way....and I want to go to the library and the grocery store....I need something more to read, and I'm out of coffee filters.....and I want to get the stuff to make sausage hash brown casserole, because that sounds good to me.....maybe I could make a stew also sometime soon, I have mushrooms to use up.....watched old movies until around nine last night, and then slept well.....NBATV just had Wizards-Knicks, don't know what they'll have tonight.....guess I could look and see.....

idiots at the phone company

and I don't even have a phone....no land line, just naked DSL which I've been paying online all along.....you get the e-bill, click on "pay bill" and give your password and the bill is paid out of the checking account number you've given them.....easy, no problems....until today when the whole system is being "upgraded" so it doesn't work anymore.....my user ID and password, and even my phone number are "not on file"......we're sorry, maybe we'll fix this some time in the future.....so I switched over to paying my bill through my bank bill pay program....AT&T can keep sending me emails telling me what I owe and when, but rather than trying to use their useless broken log-in set-up I'll just deal directly with my bank.....there, that's my lousy customer service rant for today.....luckily I don't have very much business to do with anybody anymore, so I can't encounter all that many idiots each month really.....

a dawn dusting of snow

I didn't even realize it was there until I saw it on the neighbors' roofs.....didn't leave much on the ground, or any on streets and sidewalks.....I stayed up until the football games were over....though I think I dozed off for part of the second one, but did see the end of it.....I've got a lot of that pizza left, it will do for some lunches.....pretty good pizza for store brand frozen, cheap too.....pepperoni, green and red peppers, mushrooms, olives, onion.....maybe sausage? Can't remember if there is sausage, I'd have to go look.....

no utility bill

no mail at all yesterday, not for me anyway.....cold again this morning....it said windchill of 17F.....I stayed up fairly late last night, watching old movies on TCM.....the Packers-Bears starts at 3:00, so it will be going during my regular suppertime, so I'm considering getting a frozen pizza and eating in front of the tele, which is something I don't usually do.....except for popcorn.....might have some of that during the Jets-Steelers later on.....my left knee felt tweaked this morning, so I put the elastic brace thing on it....don't know what brought that on, maybe just the cold....or sitting wrong somehow? The Breakfast with the Beatles DJ just said that it's "pleasantly mild" in L.A. Can't say that here really.....staying warm inside at least.....

dark clouds

to the north and east....and west, and sometimes south....a little sun comes in through the south window every now and then.....windchill 21F on the sunrise walk.....the chicken curry was really good, in my humble opinion.....the whole house smelled like curry powder until the middle of the night......which isn't a bad thing, really.....watched Barrett-Jackson auto auction until I started nodding off on the sofa last night.....a lot of Corvettes, though one of the highest selling cars was a hemi DeSoto.....that will be on again tonight.....and Sunday will be football championship games...I bought peanuts and popcorn for that......I used up the last of the deli corned beef at lunch yesterday, so it will be back to Bacon Spam in my grilled cheese half sandwich at lunch today I suppose.....Spam was two cans for $4 at the store Wednesday.....the bigger cans....the forecasters are waffleing about the storm coming down from Canada in a few days.....they say they will have better data as the event gets closer, as to whether or not there will be snow in the Piedmont, or just in the mountains.....the city meter reader went around a couple of days ago, might get the utility bill today?

later

I did get an afternoon walk done, bundled up pretty well.....I've got the curried chicken in the pot simmering.....and the rice is started, things should be ready in a bit.....I've got chunks of chicken, asparagus, peanuts, and scallions with curry powder.....and pineapple mashed up with raisins as a chutney....smells good right now anyway.....I don't have those condiments I used to do like fried coconut and fried banana and what all.....too much work for one person....no bacon.....

that's a cold wind blowin'

out there, too cold to walk around the park, so I went and drove around through the woods to get out of the house some....there are sure some nice looking places out there .....but to live out there it would be a long ways to the store....and those roads must have been really something in that snow we had.....windchill of 25F when I went for the paper early on today.....another chance of some snow coming next Monday and Tuesday, but not another big storm.....I'm going to make the curry this afternoon.....does asparagus sound alright in chicken curry? Why not, what the heck......

another Thursday

frost on the ground, 29 with the windchill on the sunrise walk.....mostly sunny right now, but the forecast is for increasing cloudiness leading up to a possibility of showers overnight.....I made sweet and sour pork last night, with bell pepper, pineapple chunks, and diced up scallions.....the grocery store ad called them "green pencil onions".....and I used a bottle of s&s sauce. I did not batter the pork cubes, just browned them in olive oil.....maybe someday I'll try to do it with batter ......Betty Crocker tells you how to do it with Bisquick.....she tells you how to do a lot of things with Bisquick, come to think of it.....using a little less water, and letting the rice sit in the pan for a bit made it come out pretty much like the sticky rice in a Chinese place.....probably enough saucy pork and veggies left for another two bowls of rice. So I might just have that for leftovers this evening, or I might get motivated and go head on and make a curry.....

sun shining, birds singing

just got back from a pleasant walk around the park.....before that I went grocery shopping, and got stuff for curried chicken and for sweet and sour pork.....serve those over rice I guess, with veggies cooked in like asparagus, green pepper, green onions, pineapple, mushrooms, peanuts, raisins.....curry powder is sort of expensive, but a little goes a long way.....so it will be exotic food week .....should have looked for coconut.....

nah

I'm not going to get another walk done today, every time I go out on the porch to check things out it's just plain cold and damp.....37F......and it looks like more rain on the way shortly.....in the mail I got my tax statement from Social Security, and the way I read it I won't have to file income tax for 2010.....or for any other year, unless I hit a lotto or something....the grocery store ad has green onions and mushrooms cheap.....might make some Chinese dish, or something....still want to check out curry ideas.....

rain through the night

low clouds and warmer this morning, above freezing anyway.....another rain front predicted for this afternoon and evening, but maybe I can get a walk around the park done today for a change....stayed up until 11 watching Celtics-Magic, and then the Lakers were coming on, but no way I could stay awake for any of that.....I made sort of pork fried rice for supper, that was a little different.....I haven't made a curry in a long time.....that's a lot of work for one person.....maybe I can figure some kind of curry modification that's easier, keep it simple somehow....I tried "English oatmeal" yesterday morning, which involves boiled milk.....that was different, the oats reach a denser consistency.....mine did, anyway....tasted good.....used up the evaporated milk that way.....well, tomorrow is my SS payday, and grocery day.....should make a list this time.....

a little above freezing, cloudy

some wind.....all the sidewalks were dry walking for the paper, still some places with snow and ice though, like the parking lot of the hardware store which apparently doesn't get any direct sun at this time of year....it's still got snow on it, probably with ice underneath.....that's the real old store where they do U-Haul, where I returned my trailer when I moved here.....next door to that is a place that used to be the China Eight Restaurant and now has a sign up saying it will be the Ichiban Japanese and Asian .......I only ate at the China Eight once....it was alright I guess, but it was the first Chinese place I'd ever been in that did not offer hot green tea, or chopsticks either....the Ichiban people also are taking over the empty Burger King next to the newer Waffle House.....so there will be two Japanese places on Broad Street? I suppose they must have a business plan.....the one close by here will be just a block from the Pharmacy School, maybe the students will patronize it.....the location in the old Burger King has a drive-up window....sushi on the go?

watching it snow

in Chicago as the Seahawks get beat....looks like it will just be the usual suspects for the rest of the playoffs....maybe a little warmer today here, but it's starting to cloud up, with some rain expected for the next couple of days.....I've got the sound off on the TV, playing AC/DC on the stereo, drinking rum bitters.....was messing with distorted Fender tones for awhile there after lunch.....the pork chop, mashed pots, beans, and gravy were good last night.....today I'm just going to do a can of store brand chicken corn chowder spiced up with hot sauce....a cold day thing.....with the wind it's not really pleasant enough to sit on the porch much, chilly.....though I could do that anyway, just to get outside some I guess.....the morning walk wasn't bad, 28 degrees again I think, if I can remember that far back....somewhere in there....the Falcons were getting stomped last night, so I went to bed before that was over, and slept pretty well.....

28 degrees

on the sunrise newspaper walk.....had to walk in the street in a couple of places because of ice on the sidewalk....but on Saturday morning there aren't any cars on the street, so that was no problem....Ravens-Steelers this evening should be a good one, and then Green Bay at Atlanta might keep me awake until midnight....I'd like to see that one too anyway....I should get around to the mashed potatoes and gravy for supper, with a pork chop and more green beans.....I woke up with an ache in my right elbow, but rubbed some emu oil on it and it's not bothering me now.....what causes these random aches? Thick heavy library books? I don't know, seems like it's always something.....I was reading the second volume of The Dublin Saga for an extended period yesterday afternoon, before I closed my eyes and nodded off.....maybe I should take a nap on purpose today, so I can stay awake for football at night......life is so complicated.....

let's see....

I took the second piece of Angus sirloin and pounded it with diced garlic and black pepper and iron skillet seared it in a little olive oil, and had that with cut green beans and diced sweet onion sauteed with oregano.....and the leftover rice heated up with some parmesan-romano on it.....I drove over to Laurens around noon today, to get a guitar string, of course.....traveling the main roads there were still a few places where the ice might have got you if you didn't see it first and slow down.....right in the neighborhood over by the mill, there were still big patches where you could lose it if you were going very fast at all.....anyway, played guitar some in the afternoon, but later fell asleep sitting up on the sofa with the radio on....just for 20 minutes maybe....I did sit out on the front porch some too, at 37F, but not windy and bright and sunny.....but after a half hour of that it's good to get back inside, really.....there should be a basketball game on at 8 to watch....just been reading after supper, and the local news.....couldn't find a movie to last 'til the B-ball.....well, should be plenty of NFL playoffs over the weekend, plus it should be better weather for getting out and walking too.....

went the short way

for the newspaper, on the dry sidewalks....the long way was still frozen over where the street is shaded by big trees.....cleaned out the fridge some, put in a load of laundry.....and the mail was delivered for the first time this week.....got the gas bill, and it looks like I used about the same amount last year for the same billing period, right around 100 bucks worth....and I got an Occidental magazine, and the junk mail that usually comes on Tuesday.....it should get above freezing some time in the afternoon, so some of what re-froze overnight will melt again....still a lot of snow on the ground though.....there might be more freezing rain next Monday and Tuesday....

evening

evening
Originally uploaded by steve_tingle

the local consensus

seems to be that things will get back close to normal at 10 am this morning....that's when city offices, the library, etc.... will open. So I'm going to delay my walk until it looks like the sun has taken the glaze off the sidewalk.....was down to 16F overnight they say, so there is black ice in places.....school is out again today, the roads out in the woods are still not in good shape.....not safe enough for school busses anyway.....right now the sun is starting to come in through the south window of my living room, so maybe it will get to work on thawing pretty soon.....I slept well last night, got close to eight hours maybe....

Wednesday morning

Wednesday morning
Originally uploaded by steve_tingle

no Clinton paper?

or maybe it will come out later, snow-delayed for some reason....it took a while to get the snow and ice off the windshield, and the Jeep started right up.....I had to "rock" it to get out of the driveway, but once on the street and moving I put it in four-wheel drive and went slowly to the main street, where it was better going.....my street was still iced over, haven't been many cars on it lately.....they should have put some salt down on the parking lot at the grocery store, the footing there was iffy.....CVS had salt down and a tractor scraping the ice in front of their store....anyway, I got pork chops and some sirloin steak....and what all....today I'll iron skillet a piece of steak, and have broccoli in savory sauce and long grain&wild rice as the sides.....in the deli section, I had them slice me thin a half pound of corned beef, so lunch was grilled corned beef and swiss on wheat with a hand full of bbq potato chips and a glass of wine.....breakfast was oatmeal with raisins and the last splash of egg nog.....

no walk again this morning

but the sun is out and maybe things will melt enough to drive to the store in a bit....I can get the Clinton Wednesday paper and the Greenville News when I get some groceries.....I want to fix some substantial Winter type meal....like pork chop with mashed potato and gravy.....don't know what else, maybe I'll see something on sale that looks good.....the new term at the college was supposed to start Monday, but it got put back to today at Noon, because of the ice and all.....and at 11 this morning down the road in Columbia they will swear in the new governor .....but I think the county schools are closed again for the third day in a row.....they will have to do make-up days at spring break, or something like that.....

late afternoon

I went out on the front porch for a few minutes....it seems to be getting colder again....I saw a car come up to the stop sign at the corner only going maybe five miles an hour....they tried to stop, but just slid out into the intersection.....but there hasn't been any other traffic for hours, so it didn't matter.....in the morning I'm going to push snow off the Jeep and see if it will start....and put it in four wheel drive and try the roads to the grocery store I guess.....I wouldn't starve if I don't go, but there are some things I could get.....if it's still too slippery, I could just go to the Curb Market which is only a couple of blocks away.....they have a good butcher selection there, you can get smaller cuts, instead of big family sized things if you want.....we'll see how things look tomorrow.....

no way

I guess I'll do without the paper today.....I took about three steps off the front porch and had to turn around and come back inside.....there is no footing on the ice, it felt like my feet could slip out from under me any second....I'm not very agile or sure on my feet anyway.....and the tip of the cane was just slipping over the surface, not good.....I don't think Clinton post office is delivering mail yesterday or today, no sign of a carrier on my street anyway....don't blame 'em, I wouldn't want to drive or try to go up porch steps in these conditions.....

tuesday morning

due to ice

today is cancelled.....checking local news-sites, the official word is that the sidewalks are dangerous....and so are the streets.....the only roads being cleared and sanded are the interstates, local agencies just don't have the tools to deal with almost a foot of snow .....and it's not melting real quick I don't think.....30 degrees, no sunshine, foggy....maybe towards the middle of the day I'll think about going for my newspaper.....but right now nothing is moving outside.....

state of emergency today

and greater danger tomorrow.....the whole South pretty much shut down from the snow and ice.....when it refreezes overnight, the roads and all will be even slicker than they are already.....walking in the thick snow today wasn't that bad, but ice on the sidewalk Tuesday? Have to wait and see what it looks like after breakfast.....I'm going to see if I can stay awake through the Oregon-Auburn big deal.....

the snow is coming down really fast

on the radar Laurens County is dark blue.....28F ......I put on my older boots with the good lug soles and walked for the paper in blowing snow.....I didn't go the long way, I just went straight to the store and back.....still, that was a good workout, walking in more than half a foot of snow, takes some effort.....they did come get the trash this morning, and I guess the post office lady will have to do her route......but it's a snow day for the schools.....I'm glad I took my library books back Saturday.....well, you can renew online if you don't make it on the right day.....but this way I have new books to read while sitting inside with the snow getting deeper by the minute......

blowing snow covers the front porch

watching football

and at the top of the screen the whole time there is this blue bar with winter storm warnings for all the counties around here in GA, SC, and NC scrolling constantly.....already been snowing in MS, LA, and AL I guess.....sunshine right here right now, but too dang cold to go out on the porch for very long.....

calm, bright sunshine, 19 degrees

might get up to 36F by late afternoon, and then start clouding up.....and then start snowing around midnight with the heaviest snow around sunrise Monday leading to perhaps 4 to 6 inches of accumulation and then the snow starts to turn to sleet and freezing rain and then that freezes hard overnight so Tuesday morning the streets will be bad......that's the scenario I read in the paper this morning.....so I plan to just stay in the house and watch football.....those wildcard games Saturday night were pretty good.....

frost, cold wind

the wind feels like it's blowing off the snow in the mountains.....26 windchill on the sunrise walk...on the news they were talking about everybody going to buy bread and milk this weekend in anticipation of bad road conditions on Monday, from snow and ice.....I'm thinking of going over to the grocery store today....for bread and wine, to heck with milk.....slept well after getting to bed at 10:30....yes, LSU ended up winning the Cotton Bowl....the Saints go out west again to play the Seahawks at 4 this afternoon, be something to watch anyway.....chili pie last night, or cornbread chili casserole I guess you could call it...

Cotton Bowl Halftime

and it's quarter after ten here.....I think I'll just go on to bed rather than try to keep my eyes open through another half.....I don't think the Aggies are going to come back against LSU....I'll check the score in the morning ......on the evening news, they were talking about a storm that is just now coming on shore in SoCal.....and they are saying that it will get here by Monday, maybe bringing with it a major snow event....we'll see I guess.....going to be a hard freeze here in the middle of the night, tonight......

just ate some lunch

roast beef grilled cheese on rye, with some fritos and a glass of wine.....37 degree windchill outside, so I went out on the porch and thought about taking a walk, but decided to wait and see if it warms up, or starts to rain....could do either looks like.....I spent the bulk of the morning goofing with the software that came with the Fender amp I got a couple of months ago that has a usb port on it so you can hook it to your computer and then to the Fender website.....so that you can get tone presets modified all kinds of ways....it has a "fuzz touch-wah" virtual stompbox that was fun to play with.....and you can store your settings in the amp when you get one you like, so you don't have to use it with the computer to get your tones......as usual with software uploads, it took me forever to figure out the obvious.....I like those uploads where a voice tells you what to do next.....this wasn't like that....or are they downloads....whatever....I guess some cousins are at the beach for a few days, and some cousins are getting snowed on, as far as I can see from fb.....doesn't look like beach weather to me.....they say now that the snow might get this far down by Sunday or Monday.....

forecast maps

show snow north and west of here, but all a few counties over.....in the mountains they are readying the snowplows and sand trucks, etc....some agencies are saying that they spent half of their snow clearing budget for the whole year over Christmas weekend. There is of course a large lack of money for government in general statewide.....and the people who were recently elected to run the state don't impress me very much....oh well, that's all nothing new ......

it was raining

when I went to sleep last night, overcast and damp this morning.....wasn't anything interesting on TV last night, so I finished a novel, and turned off the lights around 9:30.....going to be in the 40's today, might get up to 50F......leftover chili last night, probably just heat up a can of clam chowder for this evening......the library books are due back on Monday, I've got one more to read.....

another arctic blast

is coming over the next few days, is what they are saying....might even be a little bit of snow again....I did get out for a walk this afternoon, after getting the computer stuff optimized as best I could.....but it's going to be staying inside weather for a while probably.....so I can see if I can get the guitar amp software loaded up too, and play with that some when it's cold outside.....the building with the Apple reseller was right across from the Reedy Falls Park....that part of downtown Greenville looks all classy and upscale.....streets paved with brick? I got lost trying to get back to the 385.....why is there an East North Street? What sense does that make? Anyway, the new software and hardware are working.....upgrading with Apple is a hell of a lot easier than upgrading with Windows, as far as I can remember that experience.....

above freezing maybe

on the morning walk....went to the store fairly early and picked up a few things, and then gassed up the Jeep and drove to downtown Greenville, and had the guys at iStore put the RAM in the macbook, then drove back home and ate some lunch, and then stuck the snow leopard disc in to see if it was going to work....and it does work....works fine .....sped things up for sure....

warmed up enough

to walk after lunch.....went around the park, the usual route.....in the mail this morning I got the Snow Leopard software, but after a while came to the conclusion that it won't install on my laptop until after I upgrade the RAM.....an authorized Apple service provider in Greenville said he could do it when I called and talked to him....so maybe tomorrow I'll drive up there and get that done.....it's 40 miles away.....I decided not to order the things online and try to switch them out with the old ones myself, afraid I'd screw it up somehow.....couldn't find anybody right around here who wanted to do anything with Mac themselves......if I can get the new OSX running, then I can finally upgrade my Safari and Skype, and be able to use the Fender Fuse software for the Mustang amp.....plus with 2G of RAM and the faster Snow Leopard, everything I usually do should run smoother, I trust.....

couple of degrees

warmer this morning, some clouds.....stayed up until midnight watching Stanford beat VT.....didn't the Orange Bowl used to be on New Year's Day? Well, and it used to be in the Orange Bowl, but they tore that down it seems.....the chili came out pretty good.....there's a lot left, going to be eating beans for a while.....which is good, because beans are cheap, shouldn't have to spend much on grocery day.....I am low on OJ and eggs though.....I should mop the kitchen floor one of these days.....sirens going outside, sounds like over on the highway.....

what the heck

there was a can of olives at the back of the cupboard, so I tossed those in the chili pot too.....

they did have cilantro

and a good price on a bell pepper....and Fritos cheaper than Bi-Lo.....I'll use some fritos as the masa in my pork roast and pinto chili.....I bought socks and boxers and a sweat shirt in the men's department.....Wal*Mart has quality goods looks like, Hanes and Fruit-o-the-Loom....my sock drawer needed re-stocking (is that a pun?).....I hadn't shopped for that type of thing since Target in Escondido, so things were getting full of holes and kinda ratty.....anyway, I'm going to fix a grilled swiss on rye with fried spam for lunch, and then chop up garlic, bell pepper, cilnatro, onion, and the left over pork roast....and saute all that in olive oil, adding oregano and chili powder .....and then start the pintos simmering with that until supper time....put some corn chips in towards the end.....try to time that so they get a little soft, but don't just dissolve....

walking a mile after breakfast

in 21 degree windchill feels like a bit of exercise to me.....whatever warmer air had been coming from the south has been replaced by cold air coming from the north.....and it will stay in that pattern for the rest of this week looks like.....I'm going over to Wal*Mart for a few things.....I wonder if they will have cilantro there.....I'm thinking of making chili this afternoon.....the Stanford game doesn't start until 8:37 tonight, so maybe I'll be up late, if it gets interesting.....couldn't find much on last night, ended up reading for a while and then retiring fairly early.....

mid-sixties

last Sunday it was snowing, this Sunday it looks like Spring....I'm not complaining though, fine with me.....I was sitting out on the front porch for a while, enjoying the day.....could of fallen asleep sitting up....don't know why I can't wake up and get in gear today....maybe from the holiday stuff...staying up late, watching too much football, etc.....I'm reading three library books at once....I'll get bored with one, and switch to another one.....the main character in this book that takes place in a failing mill-town has such a screwed up life that you can't help but feel good about your own life, since it's not nearly as messed up as this poor guy's.....and he's not even real.....I hope he's not based on the author's life, or the dang author had a piss-poor existence......

sunday the second

after a lot of rain yesterday, it rained more during the night, but had stopped by the time I finished breakfast and went to get the sunday paper....59 degrees inside and out.....the first time in a month or so that the central heat didn't come on during the night.....but it's predicted to be "much colder" tonight, back into the 20's again.....I had rye bread french toast and fried Bacon Spam for breakfast.....this damp overcast morning has me thinking about just flopping out on the sofa and closing my eyes for a while.....

late in the afternoon

getting a soaking rain....that was a great Rose Parade....they usually are, I guess....watched it on RFDTV, which is a hilarious channel to watch things on.....it's almost dark and the Rose Bowl is still an hour away? Crazy Eastern Time Zone......it's not a real Rose Bowl anyway....no Pac 10 team in it, so it doesn't count as far as I'm concerned.....

warm fog blanket

52F this morning....sure warmer than it has been.....80% chance of rain today....plenty of black-eyed peas left for more meals, they are pretty tasty.....I was thinking of doing something fancier for a 01/01/11 breakfast, like ham scramble with salsa....but just made the usual poached egg on toast.....walked for the newspaper in my new boots, they are comfortable enough.....it looks like the wind is kicking up, leaves blowing past the window.....maybe the storm is almost here.....